New religious movement

A new religious movement or NRM is a term used to refer to a religious faith, or an ethical, spiritual or philosophical movement of recent origin that is not part of an established denomination, church, or religious body.

The term NRM comprises a wide range of movements which range from loose affiliations based on novel approaches to spirituality or religion to communitarian enterprises that demand a considerable amount of group conformity and a social identity that separates its adherents from mainstream society. Its use is not universally accepted among the groups to which it is applied.^[1]

History of the term

As a field of scholarly endeavor, the study of New Religions emerged in Japan in the wake of the explosion of religious innovation following the second world war. Even the name “new religions” is a direct translation of the expression shin shukyo that Japanese sociologists coined to refer to this phenomenon. This term was adopted by Western scholars in the 1970s as an alternative to the older term cult, which during the cult debate of the 1970s acquired a pejorative connotation, and was subsequently used indiscriminately by lay critics to disparage faiths whose doctrines they saw as unusual or heretical. ^[2] There are scholars, especially in sociology of religion, who use the term "new religious movement" to describe non-mainstream religions, while others use "new religious movement" for benign alternative religions and reserve "cult" to label groups - whether religious, psychotherapeutic, political or commercial - they believe to be extremely manipulative and exploitative.^[3]

While there is no one criteria for when a group is described as a "new" religious movement, it usually refers to both of recent origin and different from existing religions.

The definitions of "of recent origin" vary greatly: there are authors who see as them as new movements those originating or appearing in a new context after World War II, while others define as new everything originating after the Bahá'í Faith (mid 19th century) or even everything originating after Sikhism (17th century).

New in the sense of different from existing religions refers by common consensus to movements which are not part of existing religions. There are authors who also count those movements which are, in religious science, seen as part of an existing religion but which either present themselves as separate or as "the only right" religion, or are not accepted by that religion as sharing the same basic creed. There are authors who also count religious movements as new when they appear in a new cultural context and present themselves as distinct from traditional religion, e.g. new Hindu or Buddhist groups in the Western world.

The natures of NRMs vary in terms of leadership, authority, concepts of the individual, family, gender, teachings, organizational structures, etc. These variations have presented a challenge to social scientists in their attempts to define a classification by means of a comprehensive criterion.^[4]

Generally, Christian denominations that are an accepted part of mainstream Christianity are not seen as new religious movements. However, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science practitioners, Shakers, and even tent revivals have been studied as NRMs. There are also examples of such groups being characterized as cults, generally by other evangelicals who are hostile to their proselytization efforts. There are groups which do not define themselves as religion, but nevertheless there are authors who label them as NRMs.

Debates among academics on the acceptability of the word "cult" continue in scholarly research papers. Similarly, no consensus has been reached in the definition of new religious movement among scholars.

Examples

For a list of new religious movements, see List of new religious movements.

NRMs are diverse both in their beliefs, practices, organization, and acceptance by society. Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe have consequently proposed that there are NRMs, particularly those who have gained adherents in a number of nations, which can be understood as forming global sub-cultures.

In general, the number of people who have affiliated with NRMs worldwide is small when compared to major world religions. However the diversity of NRMs has seen the emergence of different groups in Africa, Japan and Melanesia.

In Africa, David Barrett has documented the emergence of 6,000 new indigenous churches since the late 1960s. In Japan a number of NRMs based on revitalised Shinto belief, as well as neo-Buddhist and New Age groups have emerged, some of which originating in the late Nineteenth century in the Meiji era, and NRMs founded after the aftermath of World War Two.

Around twenty-five per cent of the world's distinct cultures are found in Melanesia, spanning the island nations from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. It was here that the phenomena of Cargo Cults were first discerned by anthropologists and religious studies scholars. The Cargo Cults are interpreted as indigenous NRMs that have arisen in response to colonial and post-colonial cultural changes, and with the influx of modernisation and capitalist consumerism.

At the time of their foundation, the religious traditions considered "established" or "mainstream" today were originally seen as new religious movements, as it were, in their time. For example, Christianity was opposed by people within Judaism and within the Roman culture as sacrilege toward existing doctrines. Likewise, Protestant Christianity was originally seen - and still considered by people today - as a new religious movement or breakaway development. There are those who have seen Buddhism as a breakaway innovation from Hinduism. The Mormon faith was faced with varying degrees of opposition from mainstream Christian adherents and governmental bodies at the time of its creation which, for the most part, still exists, but on a less visible level.

NRMs and their critics

Main article: Opposition to cults and new religious movements

Criticism of some new religious movements, a subset of which are often described by their critics as being "cults", has been a contentious issue with both sides sometimes using epithets such as "hate group" to describe the other side.^[5][6] Disaffected former members, stating that they are seeking redress for perceived wrongs or looking to expose perceived wrongdoings, have, in turn, had their motives called into question. They have themselves come under attack for allegedly using methods themselves that have been characterized as polemic, hostile, and verbally or emotionally abusive. Critics, both those who are ex-members and who are not, have had their character and credibility impeached. The Church of Scientology, in particular, makes a practice of investigating its critics and publicizing any past crimes or wrongdoings.^{[citation needed]}

CESNUR’s president Massimo Introvigne, writes in his article "So many evil things: Anti-cult terrorism via the Internet"^[7], that fringe and extreme anti-cult activism resorts to tactics that may create a background favorable to extreme manifestations of discrimination and hate against individuals that belong to new religious movements. Critics of CESNUR, however, call Introvigne a cult apologist who defends harmful religious groups and cults. Somewhat in concurrence with Introvigne, professor Eileen Barker asserts in an interview that the controversy surrounding certain new religious movements can turn violent by a process called deviancy amplification spiral.^[8]

Aspects of the guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition are commonly brought forward in disputes related to asserted abuse of authority by gurus and spiritual teachers of new religious movements.

In a paper by Anson Shupe and Susan Darnell presented at the 2000 meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, they affirm that although the International Cultic Studies Association ( ICSA, formerly known as AFF or American Family Foundation) has presented "slanted, stereotypical images and language that has inflamed persons to perform extreme actions", the extent to which the ICSA and other anti-cultist organizations are hate groups as defined by law or racial/ethnic criteria in sociology, is open for debate. See also Verbal violence in hate groups.

The Foundation against Intolerance of Religious Minorities, associated with the Adidam NRM, sees the use of terms "cult" and "cult leader" to suggest that these are to be detested, avoided at whatever cost and see this as the exercise of prejudice and discrimination against them in the same manner as "nigger" and "commie" were used in the past to denigrate blacks and Communists^[9].

See also

• List of new religious movements
• Conversion to NRMs and cults
• Cult

• Freedom of religion
• Religious pluralism

• Christian countercult movement
• Shinshūkyō - the New Religions of Japan

Bibliography

• Arweck, Elisabeth and Peter B. Clarke, New Religious Movements in Western Europe: An Annotated Bibliography, Westport & London: Greenwood Press, 1997.
• Barker, Eileen New religious movements: a practical introduction London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1989.
• Barker, Eileen and Margit Warburg (eds) New Religions and New Religiosity, Aarhus, Denmark: Aargus University Press, 1998.
• Barrett, David B., George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, 2 vols. 2nd edition, Oxford & new york: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Beckford, James A. (ed) New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change, Paris: UNESCO/London, Beverly Hills & New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 1986.
• Chryssides, George D., Exploring New Religions, London & New York: Cassell, 1999.
• Clarke, Peter B. (ed.), Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements, London & New York: Routledge, 2006.
• Davis, Derek H., and Barry Hankins (eds) New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America, Waco: J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies and Baylor University Press, 2002.
• Hexham, Irving and Karla Poewe, New Religions as Global Cultures, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997.
• Hexham, Irving, Stephen Rost & John W. Morehead (eds) Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2004.
• Jenkins, Philip, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Kohn, Rachael, The New Believers: Re-Imagining God, Sydney: Harper Collins, 2003.
• Kranenborg, Reender (Dutch language) Een nieuw licht op de kerk?: Bijdragen van nieuwe religieuze bewegingen voor de kerk van vandaag/A new perspective on the church: Contributions by NRMs for today's church Published by het Boekencentrum, (a Christian publishing house), the Hague, 1984. ISBN 90-239-0809-0.
• Loeliger, Carl and Garry Trompf (eds) New Religious Movements in Melanesia, Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific & University of Papua New Guinea, 1985.
• Meldgaard, Helle and Johannes Aagaard (eds) New Religious Movements in Europe, Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 1997.
• Needleman, Jacob and George Baker (eds) Understanding the New Religions, New York: Seabury Press, 1981.
• Partridge, Christopher (ed) Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, Oxford: Lion, 2004.
• Possamai, Adam, Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament, Brussels: P. I. E. - Peter Lang, 2005.
• Saliba, John A., Understanding New Religious Movements, 2nd edition, Walnut Creek, Lanham: Alta Mira Press, 2003.
• Stark, Rodney (ed) Religious Movements: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, New York: Paragon House, 1985.
• Thursby, Gene. "Siddha Yoga: Swami Muktanada and the Seat of Power." When Prophets Die: The Postcharismatic Fate Of New Religious Movements. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991 pp. 165-182.
• Towler, Robert (ed) New Religions and the New Europe, Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 1995.
• Trompf, G. W. (ed) Cargo Cults and Millenarian Movements: Transoceanic Comparisons of New Religious Movements, Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990.
• Wilson, Bryan and Jamie Cresswell (eds) New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response, London & New York: Routledge, 1999.

References

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